Akhenaten: mad, bad, or brilliant? (2014)

Before long this was shortened to “the Aten”, the Egyptian word for “the sun disc”, and the king had changed his name from Amenhotep (“Amun is content”) to Akhenaten (“effective for the Aten”). “Ostensibly it was about building a new cult home for the Aten on virgin land – this is what Akhenaten tells us in the inscriptions on the boundary stelae [inscribed stone slabs] around Amarna’s perimeter. While a lot of ancient Egyptian art has a static, monumental quality, as though self-consciously designed to last for eternity, this scene offers a transitory impression of royal family life.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk